


An Assassin and Her Vampire

by camz_laur96



Category: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Genre: Assassins, Dark Brotherhood - Freeform, Dragonborn - Freeform, F/F, Slow Burn, Vampires
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-04
Updated: 2019-05-04
Packaged: 2020-02-09 14:11:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18639709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/camz_laur96/pseuds/camz_laur96
Summary: An assassin vampire that has thousands of secrets isn’t as shocking as a vampire with an Elder Scroll and just as many secrets.





	An Assassin and Her Vampire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some of you may know that I wrote a Serana/Dragonborn story before and I have finished it and lately I have sort of missed writing so I figured I would write another one with different characters and a different story line. 
> 
> My other story is called Immortal Love if you have not read it and if you would like go give it a read.

Serana didn’t know what to expect when her mother sealed her away from her father with an Elder Scroll. A part of her expected her mother, while another expected one of her father’s minions. What she didn’t expect was another vampire that knew nothing about her or her parents, unless this vampire was good at lying. 

Serana had noticed she didn’t smell the same as the thinner blood vampires that were lying dead on the stone floor, definitely the work of the one that freed her. One of the vampires may have been turned by her father since she could smell him in the vampires blood. The one who freed her had some power in her blood, some being from whoever turned her and some from something else that Serana couldn’t think of. Either way Serana needed her help, bad things were coming to Skyrim. 

* * *

Traveling up north was one of Ari’s least favorite things to do. She could handle the cold, it definitely wasn’t a problem since she was always cold. The sun was the problem. Her blood gave her a decent resistance to the sun. At the same time the snow didn’t help since it constantly reflected sunlight up towards her face. She was unable to heal without blood and her senses were slightly diminished. Luckily she fed before traveling. 

The sun was rising over the horizon. She wanted to continue her travels to Dawnstar but she didn’t have the energy to finish the travel in the sun. Ari’s travel companion wasn’t too happy about stopping. 

“Of course I get stuck with you for the next job, I’d rather be stuck with the kid, she at least attempts to travel in the sun.” Ari stared at the younger Breton that sat across from her at the small camp they set up. She never got along with him and viewed this job as punishment since she decided to act out in front of everyone. “Fucking bloodsucker.” 

Roland was new to the family, so Ari only somewhat understood his negativity towards her. He still wasn’t smart enough to understand she heard everything he said and could easily sense what his emotions were towards her. Ari had only known him for a week but after all of her years he definitely wasn’t someone she wanted to be with. 

As he began occupying himself with his meal, Ari got up and began walking away from the camp. “Where are you going?” 

“Away from you.” Ari heard him curse at her for a second time, which she ignored just like the first. She needed something to distract her. The smell of smoke was in the air, so she hoped there were some bandits nearby. 

It wasn’t a bandit camp, instead it was a small burning building. Ari could smell the burnt wood and flesh, both vampires and mortals. She slowly walked over, seeing multiple bodies laying around and a few death hounds. Those that weren’t wearing vampire armor were Vigilants of Stendarr. 

Ari jumped back when she felt a hand on her boot, meeting eyes with a vampire. Golden eyes met hers as she slowly backed away. “Dimhollow... Lord Harkon... his orders.” 

The vampire could barely speak, his voice raspy as he tried to get as many breaths as he could to speak. Ari was almost unable to hear what he was saying, if not for her enhanced hearing. She knew of Dimhollow, a cave that wasn’t to far from where she was now. From what she knew there wasn’t anything in that cave, other than the usual creatures that dwelled in Skyrim caves, there couldn’t possible be anything that interested vampires there. 

Before she walked away she noticed a piece of paper hanging out from one of the pockets of the vampire. It was wet from the snow that laid on the ground, but she was still able to read the sloppy handwriting. _Take care of those in the Hall of the Vigilant, make sure no one leaves alive. Then join the others in Dimhollow, the future of our kind depends on it. L.H._

Whatever was in that cave was important to this Lord Harkon, and he must be important also to have such a number of vampires willing to do his work for him. Ari placed the note into her pack and looked over at the small mountain Dimhollow was located on. She then looked back over to Roland, noticing he didn’t seem to concerned about where she went and that she left him alone in the Skyrim wilderness. He should be worried, Ari thought, she was their best fighter even though she had only been trained to kill. 

It was a relief to be inside the cave, away from the sunlight. That was until she took a deep breath and smelled blood. A mix of both mortal and vampire blood, the same as outside. Down a small set of stairs was the body of a vampire and another that belonged to an armored mortal. Ari recognized the armor, causing her to freeze where she was. If they were here too, she couldn’t risk being seen by them. 

She moved on, only running into a few vampires that she quickly passed by using her invisibility. Luckily those vampires were thinner blood so they couldn’t easily detect her. The invisibility allowed her to sneak past a majority of the vampires or quickly kill them without causing a lot of noise. It wasn’t until she got to the last room that she actually had to fight. 

There were two vampires and one mortal, who didn’t last that long as one of the vampires killed him. As quietly as possible, she unsheathed her sword, which wasn’t quiet to the ears of a vampire. Both of them came rushing up the stairs to where Ari was, but they didn’t last long due to the flames that quickly shot from her one hand and the fast movements of her sword. She was glad they didn’t last long since the flames she conjured quickly burnt the palm of her hand. One of the many things she had disliked since she was turned was her inability to use any magic that dealt with fire for a long period of time. And, of course, she had been fairly well at this kind of destruction magic before she was turned. 

Ari found nothing of importance on either the vampires of the mortal, who was a Vigilant of Stendarr. She did take a blood potion in case she became thirsty, but she was always thirsty. 

Moving to the center of the room, she found many arches surrounding an open area with just a pedestal in the center. Ari pressed the button on top of it without thinking, which wasn’t the best idea because she ended up getting a blade cutting through her hand. Luckily it healed since she was inside. Around her the floor began shifting as a stone monolith rose beside her. Ari backed up while readying a spell in each of her hands, not sure what would emerge from the stone as door opened from it. 

A woman in red and black armor fell from the monolith with what Ari recognized as an Elder Scroll on her back. Ari had her back against one of the arches by the time the woman began to slowly rise to her knees after a few seconds of groaning. Then, before she could ready a ward, two shards of ice flew towards her, trapping both of her hands into the stone arch. Her magic was working, the pain in her hands was too much for her to concentrate even on the simplest fire spell. 

The woman finally rose, meeting eyes with Ari. It wasn’t until then that she realized she didn’t hear a heartbeat. She must have been what all of those vampires were looking for, she thought. 

“Who...who are you?” The vampire’s voice was hoarse, maybe due to her thirst. She may have been looked away for awhile. It was a shock to Ari that she wasn’t feral, but then again she could easily sense the power in her blood. 

Ari continued to struggle against the ice that held her in place. The vampire took slow and shaky steps toward her, stopping a few steps away from Ari. “Who sent you here?” 

“Nobody.” 

“Then why are you here?” 

“Well when you run into an almost dead vampire that was told by some lord that they need to go to a cave you get curious.” The vampires eyes grew wide once she heard the word lord. 

“Lord what?” 

“Harkon.” 

“Volkihar?” 

Ari froze, she has heard of that name before. She knew it all too well. She studied the face of the vampire staring at her, realizing she needed to get out of this cave. 

“I don’t know anyone by the name Volkihar.” She hoped it wasn’t obvious that she was lying, or that this vampire wasn’t good at telling when people were lying. 

The ice melted from around her hands with a wave of the other vampires hand. “We need to get out of here, I need your help home.” 

Ari ignored what she had said, instead grabbing the dagger from her hip and pushing the vampire against the arch she was just against, holding the blade to her throat. The vampire didn’t seem concerned about Ari or the blade. If she cut her it wouldn’t kill her, even if she hadn’t fed lately. 

“Who are you and why are you here?” 

“Something is happening, something bad. All I’m asking is that you take me home so I know what’s happening. I can’t explain much right now since I know my father is looking for me.” Ari took a step back but kept her dagger out while keeping a close eye on the woman. 

“Where do you live?” 

“An island, somewhat north of Solitude. What year is it?” 

Ari thought for a few seconds, she barely kept track of what year it was herself since she’s been around for so long. “It’s the Fourth Era, I think it started about 200 years ago.” 

“You’re a vampire too, how long have you been around?” 

“Longer than you probably.” Ari began walking to where she assumed the exit was, with the vampire following a short distance behind her.

“If it’s the Fourth Era I don’t believe that. I was put here sometime during the First Era.” The vampire was slowly realizing just how much time she missed. It had to be a long period of time since they were already in the Fourth Era and she didn’t even know how long the other eras lasted. 

Ari stopped and turned, smirking at the vampire. “I’m over 4,000 years old love. Turned in the First Era when I was 23.” 

“Who turned you?” 

“I don’t remember. Some woman I met. I was stupid back then, I enjoyed drinking far more than I could handle. Most nights back then I don’t remember. That was one of those nights.” Ari continued her walk up the stairs, stopping once she was next to a stone gargoyle. “What’s your name?” 

“Serana Volkihar.” Ari looked at Serana, unable to respond as the stone next to her exploded, throwing chunks of stone everywhere. 

Serana had responded faster than Ari, shooting shards of ice from her hands that quickly hit the gargoyle between the eyes. Ari stared at her with wide eyes, her sword was barely out of its sheathe by the time the gargoyle was finished with. 

“And yours?” 

“My what?” Ari closely watched Serana as she stepped closer to her, now even more intimidated of the vampire. 

“Your name.” 

“It’s not important. I’m dropping you off at your home and leaving. Before I drop you off at your home there’s something I need to take care of first.” 

Serana only let out a sigh as Ari continued to exit the cave, luckily they faced no other issues before they found a small exit. The sun was still up, causing both to pull their hoods over their heads. It had affected Serana the most as she quickly moved under the shade of a tree. 

“Here,” Ari reached into her pack and pulled out a bottle of blood and tossed it to Serana. “I’m guessing it’s new, I got it off of one of your friends in that cave.” 

Serana muttered a thank you before she quickly drank the contents of the bottle. Ari didn’t care to wait for her as she tried to figure out where they were on the mountain, she needed to pay Roland a quick visit. 

Serana followed her without question. There was nothing that she even vaguely recognized, mostly because she barely left her home other that her visits to the College of Winterhold. The weather was the same, always cold and snowing. The landscape was still beautiful, it always seemed that the snow had fallen to the ground perfectly and the ground had a glow with the reflection of the sun. 

Serana was distracted by the scenery, not realizing they were stopping until she ran into her guide’s back. This earned her a glare that she quickly returned. 

“Oh great, you leave for a few hours and come back with another bloodsucker.” Serana looked around her guide to see a man sitting on a bedroll next to a campfire. His glare was almost the same as the one she had received seconds ago. 

“Don’t get too excited, we aren’t staying for long.” She pulled a paper from her pocket and handed it to him, “here, have the contract. Don’t fuck it up, I know this will be your first solo one. If Astrid asks just say you pissed me off and I left you at Dawnstar.” 

They must be near Dawnstar, Serana thought. She began to grow curious about the woman, she had no idea who Astrid was or what the contract was. She was also curious as to why her and the Brenton wore the same armor. Maybe it was the common armor for hunters in Skyrim even though it didn’t look like it helped with the cold. 

“Astrid isn’t going to like this.” 

The woman rolled her eyes, “I don’t care. She may be running everything but we all know if I wanted to I would be in her position. If you haven’t noticed in the past two months that you’ve been here, I don’t listen to her. I don’t listen to anyone.” She then turned to Serana, “let’s go, we can go to Dawnstar and get a carriage to Solitude.” 

Serana gave a small nod in response and began following her down the road. They walked in silence, Serana was busy taking in all of her surroundings while Ari didn’t care to speak with the other vampire. A bit further down the road she felt a hand on her wrist, pulling her off the road and behind a bush. 

“What are you doing?” Serana looked and saw her crouching with a finger to her lips, making sure she kept quiet. 

She whispered, “Imperial soldiers. One of their commanders is dead because of me.” 

“What are Imperial soldiers?” Serana didn’t recognized the name of them, nor did she recognize the armor that they wore. 

“Soldiers for the Empire, in Cyrodiil.” 

“There’s an empire in Cyrodiil?” 

“Yes, formed in the First Era.” Once the soldiers were almost out of sight, Ari got up and walked back to the road, Serana following behind her. 

Serana didn’t give any response. She really had been locked away for a long period of time. She could only hope that her mother was still alive, and she would be lucky if her mother was home. If her father was looking for her as her guide had said, then her mother was probably not anywhere near him. Knowing her father, he would never leave their home. 

She had to prepare to see her father after so many years. He was still after the prophecy, not interested in her or her mother’s safety. Part of her knew that if he was concerned for her safety he would have come to find her himself. 

Dawnstar wasn’t as large as other Hold capitals in Skyrim. There was an inn that didn’t have many people around it and a mine that had multiple people working at. There were also a few homes and a small shop. They did find a carriage that was willing to take them to Solitude for free, only because Serana’s guide had threatened him by saying something about a Brotherhood. The two vampires were then quickly on their way Solitude to find a boat to take them to Serana’s home. 

* * *

“If that place was haunted I wouldn’t be going there, so my final offer is one hundred gold.” The boat captain wasn’t taking any offer under 500 gold to take them north, saying that the Sea of Ghosts is haunted and nobody ever returns from there. Serana knew he was right, at least when she lived there. 

“Two beautiful women shouldn’t need to go that way, even though one seems to be part of a questionable cult.” Serana quickly shot her eyes over to the woman standing next to her. “Should I tell the guard that the one they’re looking for is right here under their noses? Five hundred gold, no less.” 

“Is there a way we could walk to your home?” She turned to Serana, clearly done with arguing the Nord captaining the boat. 

“There should be a small dock with a boat that can take use to my home, but I wouldn’t know if it’s still standing.” 

Ari stood in thought for a few moments before she decided on how they would reach Serana’s home. She apparently decided that they wouldn’t be traveling to the dock and boarded the small boat. The captain stared at her and held out a hand, waiting for a pouch of gold to be placed there. Ari took his hand and pulled him off of the boat onto the dock, which caused him to start yelling for guards. Serana took this as her cue to quickly get onto the boat as it was being pushed away from the dock. 

Serana studied the woman’s face, finally able to see her since she pulled down he hood and mask. She tried to place where she could possibly be from, but it was difficult since she was also a vampire. Her pale skin would normally show that she could be a Nord, yet most vampires had pale skin. She was shorter than Serana, only by a few inches. Serana’s curiosity got the best of her and she decided to ask instead of trying to figure it out herself. 

“Where are you from?” Once she heard Serana’s voice she stopped rowing, allowing the boat to drift with the current. 

“Solitude, my sister and I were both born there.” Her voice stayed quiet after she mentioned her sister, Serana figured it was a topic she wouldn’t talk about. 

“I’ve never been inside Solitude. I only know my parents home and Winterhold.” 

“Solitude is much nicer now since it’s Skyrim’s capital, but I haven’t been there in a few years to know how it is on the inside.” She began rowing the boat again, but continued to talk to Serana. “So what’s the deal with your Elder Scroll?” 

“Have you heard of the Tyranny of the Sun?” She shook her head no, allowing Serana to continue. “It’s a prophecy that my father is obsessed with, ever since my family had been turned. It’s something about vampires not having to worry about the sun anymore.” 

Ari stopped rowing the boat, “we're taking the one thing your father needs to what, kill the sun? I’m not being a part of that. I may kill people for money but I am not helping you or him kill this world.” 

“And you think I want to help him? He wasn’t the one that kept me away with the Elder Scroll, it was my mother. We wanted to prevent this from happening.” Serana raised her voice at her as she continued speaking, “take me back to my home. You can leave and have nothing to do with this, but know that my father is going to want you in his court or to live with us. I can sense power in your blood, whether it’s from who turned you or something else about you, any mage can sense that. It’s so strong that my father will also sense it too.” 

Ari didn’t respond and continued to row the boat. After a few hours Serana was able to recognize her home towering high above the open water. Ari had noticed it to, and has seen it before when she had been in Solitude and on the nearby mountains. Being up close to it had made it seem somewhat familiar, but she couldn’t say why. 

Ari got out of the boat to pull it ashore before Serana got out. She quickly walked up to her home, leaving Ari behind to stare up at the castle, trying to figure out why it seemed so familiar. She stayed looking at it until Serana was at her side again. 

“You don’t have to go up. I’m home now, you can leave.” Serana tried to make it sound like she could go up there alone, but she did want someone to go with her. She didn’t know what to expect and would definitely feel safer if someone was with her. 

“I’m going with you. If whoever in there wants to destroy this world with that scroll I’m not going to let it happen.” 

The two of them slowly began walking up to the castle over the large stone bridge. Ari was hesitant at first because of the large gargoyles, but Serana assured her that they wouldn’t attack them and that they were only stone this time. A guard at the front quickly opened the gate and front door once he recognized Serana. 

Once inside, Ari quickly smelled the mortal blood. She was capable of controlling her thirst, yet she had moments where if there was too much it was hard to control it. She wasn’t sure how Serana was able to easily walk through and breathe in the scent after not having blood for a long time. They walked down a set of stairs to what was a large dining hall with three tables and an area that sat multiple thrones. Only one person sat at those thrones, who quickly stood up once he saw Serana and Ari walk in. 

“Ah, Serana, after so many years you have brought me my Elder Scroll and a guest.” Ari figured that this person must be Serana’s father. Everyone in the hall had stopped what they were doing once he spoke. “You took the fun away with our guest though, since she has already been turned.” 

“All you care about is a stupid scroll and me not bringing you some innocent mortal? You haven’t changed have you? Take your scroll, but I’m leaving. I can’t be around as you try to destroy this world.” Serana took the scroll from her back and tossed it towards her father but it didn’t reach him as Ari quickly jumped forward and caught it. 

“Serana I told you I’m not letting this happened. I’m not allowing him to destroy everything.” 

“All of your little pets have been disobedient Serana, but not as much as this one. Going against the lord of this castle isn’t that smart. What’s your name?” Ari felt Serana’s father behind her, causing her to take a few steps back to where she previously stood next to Serana. 

“Ari.” 

“And how long have you been one of us?” 

“About 4,000 years.” Ari watched him carefully as he took a few steps towards them, taking the Elder Scroll from her hand. 

“And who turned you that gives you any power over what my daughter or I have to say?” 

“I don’t know who turned me.” 

“Time will only tell who did.” He turned away and walked over to one of the vampires that stood shortly behind him. He whispered something about locking the Elder Scroll away where nobody could find it. 

Ari quickly grew angry, never had she been around someone that went against her. The anger cause her fangs to show, luckily her bottom ones stayed put or she definitely wouldn’t be able to control herself. Without thinking she unsheathed her sword and began walking towards Harkon, ignoring Serana’s warnings. 

“Ari Vendicci don’t you take another step!” Ari quickly stopped, looking for the source of the voice which was a woman standing on a balcony above the thrones. She didn’t respond nor did the woman say anything else, instead it was Serana to speak first. 

“You’re Ari Vendicci?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading and it would mean a lot if you guys gave feedback for this chapter and what you think of the story in the comments. This chapter was short because it was just an introduction but I will be trying to make the future chapters somewhat longer. 
> 
> Updates at first will be slow since I am finishing up with school and moving so I apologize beforehand if the updates are slow in the beginning.


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